Changes to Expect Under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City

On the final day of last season, with Manchester City in need of a point to secure a top-four spot, they drew 1-1 with Swansea City, a side with little to play for. As the final whistle blew, bringing the curtain down on Manuel Pellegrini’s time in charge, the players slumped to the floor, gasping for air, tired and relieved.

It hadn’t been a particularly intense 90 minutes. Neither side had moved the ball quickly enough, nor had it been end-to-end. It was blatantly obvious that the City players were emotionally drained and in need of something new.

It brought to mind the words of Ferran Soriano. Speaking to Mark Ogden, then of the Telegraph, back in 2013, the City chief executive talked about “cycles” at a football club, suggesting players and managers become tired and need new direction after periods of around three years.

Three years in football is a long time. In football, teams have cycles and you can have managers who go through several cycles and managers who go through one cycle. It will depend.

Obviously, we want the next manager to stay for a number of years, but I think it would not be wise to speculate on the next manager being there for 26 years. This is an exception and I think three, four, five years is one cycle. Maybe a manager can do one or two cycles, but people get tired. Players need another way, another excitement, and managers also want to move, but I think this is normal.

In my personal experience, I have seen successful managers—I don’t want to talk about Barcelona too much, but you could argue it has been the most successful club of the last 10 years and it has had two managers—Frank Rijkaard for four years and Guardiola for four years, and it’s ok.

The City players looked stilted and in need of change—and change is exactly what they have been given. This is a new era at the club, with a new manager, new style and new way of thinking.

And Pep Guardiola already appears to have had a galvanising effect. The 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in his first pre-season game in charge saw plenty of positives. There was intensity to City’s passing, particularly in the second half, and they were building from the back in typical Guardiola fashion.

Two weeks of training with a depleted first-team squad doesn’t appear to have stopped him implementing new ideas, with none of his young players looking overawed or out of place.

So what changes can we expect at City this season?

The Squad

There have already been some new additions to the City squad. Ilkay Gundogan is currently injured having dislocated his …

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